What we know hear when we say something S doesn't like. For instance, when he got up this morning, Geoff walked with him into the bathroom and told him to use the potty - the response "Roar!"
He has also taken to saying, in a very calm rational voice, "It's not your choice what I do, it's my choice. You can't tell me what to do, it's my choice."
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
The blessing and curse of TV
Geoff thought I should post about this and since he rarely (or never) says that, I thought I should honor his request:
S has never been much for TV - mainly by design and partly by his personality, he would choose being outside and running around, or any other physical activity really, over TV any day - and we have done our best to encourage that. With that said, I recognize the need for some peace and quiet around the house every so often, if only for 15 minutes, and can certainly appreciate TVs ability to bring that on.
Part two of this story - S was sick last week and unable to go to daycare. He's rarely sick and when he has had to stay home, it hasn't been a problem to coordinate between Geoff and I - not so last week. Everything that could have gone wrong did, so I ended up staying home with S, but had a 3 hour meeting that I couldn't really miss - so yes, this meant a 3 hr phone meeting and a kid who doesn't sit and watch TV or even play by himself very well or very quietly. So for three hours S watched a video for 15 minutes or so, paused it (fortunately he has mastered this skill), did a puzzle or some other activity, then watched a few more minutes, etc. etc. He spent the morning running back and forth between rooms, often trying to get my attention. Because he wasn't feeling well, he was much more low key than usual.
In the end, the kid I don't want to sit and watch TV, did what we wanted, only this time I really wanted him to watch TV and was just wishing he could get engrossed in a movie for an hour or two - ironic and our fault, I know.
S has never been much for TV - mainly by design and partly by his personality, he would choose being outside and running around, or any other physical activity really, over TV any day - and we have done our best to encourage that. With that said, I recognize the need for some peace and quiet around the house every so often, if only for 15 minutes, and can certainly appreciate TVs ability to bring that on.
Part two of this story - S was sick last week and unable to go to daycare. He's rarely sick and when he has had to stay home, it hasn't been a problem to coordinate between Geoff and I - not so last week. Everything that could have gone wrong did, so I ended up staying home with S, but had a 3 hour meeting that I couldn't really miss - so yes, this meant a 3 hr phone meeting and a kid who doesn't sit and watch TV or even play by himself very well or very quietly. So for three hours S watched a video for 15 minutes or so, paused it (fortunately he has mastered this skill), did a puzzle or some other activity, then watched a few more minutes, etc. etc. He spent the morning running back and forth between rooms, often trying to get my attention. Because he wasn't feeling well, he was much more low key than usual.
In the end, the kid I don't want to sit and watch TV, did what we wanted, only this time I really wanted him to watch TV and was just wishing he could get engrossed in a movie for an hour or two - ironic and our fault, I know.
What if....
Although we haven't moved beyond the "why?" stage we have also been in the "what if" stage - no one told me about this one.
This means we hear things like:
--What if you were walking down the street and you saw a shark and Batman walking down the street too?
--What if your ears were on your belly? How could you hear if your ears were covered with your shirt?
--What if your feet were on your head, you'd have to walk on your head.
--What if we went to Como Town and they said we had a million points to ride the bumper cars? [his favorite activity, he would ride the bumper cars all day if we let him]
And sometimes it's followed up with - "could you imagine that?!"
S informed me yesterday that our minds don't work the same - and I wholeheartedly agreed, explaining we're all unique there's no other S out there in the world and that's what makes us all special, and it's okay (even good) to have a different take on the world.
That's one of the great things about all the questions he comes up with - it gives me a new perspective on the world and forces me to think about small things in different ways. Although not a why or what if question, we also get a lot of questions about what words mean - what does sneaky mean or failed, try being a child's dictionary for a few hours to really clarify your own thinking and biases....
This means we hear things like:
--What if you were walking down the street and you saw a shark and Batman walking down the street too?
--What if your ears were on your belly? How could you hear if your ears were covered with your shirt?
--What if your feet were on your head, you'd have to walk on your head.
--What if we went to Como Town and they said we had a million points to ride the bumper cars? [his favorite activity, he would ride the bumper cars all day if we let him]
And sometimes it's followed up with - "could you imagine that?!"
S informed me yesterday that our minds don't work the same - and I wholeheartedly agreed, explaining we're all unique there's no other S out there in the world and that's what makes us all special, and it's okay (even good) to have a different take on the world.
That's one of the great things about all the questions he comes up with - it gives me a new perspective on the world and forces me to think about small things in different ways. Although not a why or what if question, we also get a lot of questions about what words mean - what does sneaky mean or failed, try being a child's dictionary for a few hours to really clarify your own thinking and biases....
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